Coca-Cola joins Obama’s Clean Fleets

Date

08 July 2011

NEW YORK:Coca-Cola, a member of The Climate Group, is among six new corporate partners to join Obama’s initiative Clean Fleets Partnership, which aims to fuel the up-take of electric vehicles (EVS) in the US.

Coca-Cola already boasts the largest hybrid delivery fleet in North America, and this week rolled out new electric trucks in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and New York, as part of its plans to use fuel more efficiently.

Also joining Coca-Cola in the National Clean Fleets Partnership is Enterprise Holdings, General Electric, OSRAM SYLVANIA, Ryder and Staples, who will each work with the US Department of Energy (DOE) to reduce oil and diesel use and boost clean energy use.

Partners will also benefit from knowledge sharing, collaboration with the DOE on research and development and procurement assistance.

“We are honored to be one of the ten partners that make up the National Clean Fleets Partnership Program,” said Steven Saltzgiver, Director of Fleet Operations, as he accepted the honor on behalf of the company. “Coca-Cola Refreshments is committed to investing in alternative fuel vehicles and innovative fleet technologies. This recognition is validation of our efforts to date and motivation to do even more in the future.”

Coca-Cola and the other five new additions more than doubles the Partnership’s number of corporate members, which also includes: AT&T, FedEx, PepsiCo, UPS and Verizon.

The Clean Fleets Partnership was announced in April 2011 and is part of the DOE Vehicle Technology Program’s Clean Cities initiative, which will assist the Obama Administration’s plans to cut US oil imports by one third by 2025.

Combined, these US companies run almost one million fleet vehicles, so this initiative will have a large impact on oil imports as well as carbon emissions reductions in the US.

Robin Haycock, Head of Transport, The Climate Group says: “We see these initiatives popping up all the time now and we are working on similar knowledge sharing activities in the US and UK with a number of other companies. Fleets are where the large-scale uptake of this technology will have a big impact. Initiatives like this make sense and help people see EVs positively, which makes EV momentum unstoppable; and a Clean Revolution in the US inevitable.”